Case report of the week: Denying blindness – a case of Anton’s syndrome

Anton’s syndrome (sometimes referred to as Anton-Babinski syndrome) is a recognised but rare condition of visual anosognosia, where patients with objective blindness deny their loss of vision.

Dr Maddula and colleagues provide an excellent, comprehensive description of the case of an 83-year-old woman who was found collapsed at her house. Following admission, she was observed “walking into objects and was clearly blind”. “When asked to comment on the doctor’s tie, she was quick with an answer, but one that was incorrect”. Although she would attempt to carry out the activities of daily living herself, “assistance was required to help her finish her meals”. Despite these symptoms, the “patient maintained she was able to ‘see’ things around her”.

The details provided in this case will be valuable to add to the limited literature available regarding this rare condition and could help doctors to correctly diagnose patients presenting with similar symptoms.